Rotary combustion engine

ABSTRACT

The engine of the invention embraces a stator providing a closed piston chamber and a closed fuel valve bore on parallel axes and closely juxtaposed so that said valve bore is connected to said chamber by fuel port means formed in said stator. A rotary piston means is rotatably mounted in cyclic sliding relation with said stator chamber to cyclically produce an expanding subchamber adjacent to said valve bore and communicating therewith through said fuel ports. A rotary sleeve valve means rotatably journals in a pair of opposed sleeve sectors occupying said valve bore and held in spaced relation with each other by said valve means, the latter having a diametral slot through which gaseous fuel vapor is fed between juxtaposed lower edges of said sleeve sectors and through said fuel ports into said subchamber. One of said sleeve sectors is fixed in said bore while the other is rotatable to have the effect of a throttle by decreasing or increasing the spacing between lower juxtaposed edges of said sleeve sectors. The engine includes means for rotating the sleeve valve in a fixed timed relation with the rotary piston means but the amount of fuel fed through said sleeve valve is controlled by a pedal actuated throttle for rocking the rockable sleeve sector to vary the spacing of the lower edge of this from the lower edge of the fixed sector. Simultaneously with such variation, said pedal correspondingly advances or retards the timing of the ignition distributor of the engine so as to retard the ignition as the speed of the engine slows down due to the throttle being relatively closed.

United States Patent n 1 Williams [451 July 17,1973

[ ROTARY COMBUSTION ENGINE [76] Inventor: Robert H. Williams, Rt. 2, Bandera,

Tex. 78003 [22] Filed: Sept. 27, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 184,110

[52] US. Cl. l23/8.l5, 123/831 [51] Int. Cl. F02b 53/06 [58] Field of Search 60/3981, 39.61,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 894,492 7/1908 Fulton 123/831 X 2,468,451 4/1949 Kutzner... 123/831 X 2,131,216 9/1938 Brooke 60/3978 X 1,147,428 7/1915 Peterson l23/8.15 2,412,949 l2/l946 Brown et al. l23/8.15 X

Primary ExaminerCarlton R. Croyle Assistant Examiner-Michael Koczo, Jr. Attorney-Dana E. Keech [57] ABSTRACT The engine of the invention embraces a stator providing a closed piston chamber and a closed fuel valve bore on parallel axes and closely juxtaposed so that said valve bore is connected to said chamber by fuel port means formed in said stator. A rotary piston means is rotatably mounted in cyclic sliding relation with said stator chamber to cyclically produce an expanding subchamber adjacent to said valve bore and communicating therewith through said fuel ports. A rotary sleeve valve means rotatably journals in a pair of opposed sleeve sectors occupying said valve bore and held in spaced relation with each other by said valve means, the latter having a diametral slot through which gaseous fuel vapor is fed between juxtaposed lower edges of said sleeve sectors and through said fuel ports into said subchamber. One of said sleeve sectors is fixed in said bore while the other is rotatable to have the effect of a throttle by decreasing or increasing the spacing between lower juxtaposed edges 01: said sleeve sectors. The engine includes means for rotating the sleeve valve in a fixed timed relation with the rotary piston means but the amount of fuel fed through said sleeve valve is controlled by a pedal actuated throttle for rocking the rockable sleeve sector to vary the spacing of the lower edge of this from the lower edge of the fixed sector. Simultaneously with such variation, said pedal correspondingly advances or retards the timing of the ignition distributor of the engine so as to retard the ignition as the speed of the engine slows down due to the throttle being relatively closed.

6 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures Pmmmmm m' 3145.979-

sumsmq IN VENT R 0552 TH. MAL/9M5 ROTARY COMBUSTION ENGINE Inasmuch as the delivery of the fuel charge in the present invention occupies a certain period of time and as the rotor of the engine is turning at high speed during this period of time and inasmuch as said period of time varies in proportion to the volume of the fuel charge delivered behind said vane, the subchamber behind said vane into which said charge is delivered automatically varies in volume approximately in true proportion to the volume of the fuel charge delivered thereto. Thus, the pressure existing in the fuel charge at the time the firing of the latter occurs is approximately uniform at all throttle settings and this pressure is only slightly less than the pressure under which the gaseous fuel is maintained in said reservoir.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a broad object of the present invention to provide in an internal combustion engine a control system including a reservoir. means for maintaining a supply of gaseous fuel therein compressed to a predetermined pressure and rotary valve means for successive delivery from said reservoir to a combustion chamber in said engine at cyclically spaced moments when said chamber is starting to expand and wherein said valve cuts off the flow of compressed fuel from said reservoir to said combustion chamber after a short interval of time, and wherein said control system provides means for conjointly varying the length of said time interval thus varying the volume of the fuel charges delivered by said valve means and the point of time at which the delivery of each of said fuel charges is consummated, and wherein said control system also conjointly controls the point of time at which a spark is produced for firing each of such charges so that the latter occurs immediately following the point of time at which the delivery of said fuel charge from said storage reservoir to said combustion chamber is consummated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the engine of the invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 3--3 of FIG. 2. Line 2-2 is also shown in FIG. 3 as indicating the plane from which FIG. 2 is taken.

' FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view illustrating a modified form of the invention which incorporates an auxilliary fuel storage tank.

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic view illustrating a modified form of the invention incorporating an auxilliary fuel compressor power driven by said engine.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged diagrammatic view illustrating the relative positions of the parts of the rotary internal combustion engine disclosed in the preferred embodiment of the invention with the rotary valve of the engine adjusted as shown in FIG. 3 and with the fuel transmitting rotor of the valve rotated in a counterclockwise direction from the position in which it is shown in FIG. 3 to the position of said valve rotor at the moment delivery of the fuel charge (being delivered by the valve rotor while it is positioned as shown in FIG. 3) has just been consummated. In other words, FIG. 6 illustrates the cut-off position of the valve rotor with the control for said sleeve valve adjusted as shown in FIG. 3. The control system of the: invention automatically functions to ignite the fuel charge above mentioned immediately following the point of time illustrated in this view in the operation of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 and shows the adjustable sleeve sector of the rotary valve of the invention actuated to substantially advance the point of time at which the delivery of a charge of fuel is consummated and likewise substantially decrease the volume of said fuel charge while coordinately advancing the firing of said charge so that this takes place immediately following the point of time in the operation of the engine of the invention illustrated in this view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in the drawings, the invention is embodied in a rotary combustion engine 10 which includes a central body 111 in which is provided an ellipsoidal chamber 12 which is closed at its ends by end walls 13 and 14 having bearings 15 in which a shaft 16 journals. Fixed on shaft 16 and making a rotatable sealing fit at its ends with the end walls 13 and 14 is a cylindrical rotor 17 having three equally spaced radial vane guiding slots 18 in which three vanes 19 are mounted for radial sliding movement. Each of these vanes has a pair of concentic rollers 20 mounted] on its ends which travel in double walled cam slots 21 provided in end walls 13 and 14, to guide the pathway over which the outer edges of vanes 19 travel as the rotor 17 rotates about its axis so that vanes 19 sweep close to but never touch the ellipsoidal face of chamber 12.

Mounted in slots in the outer edges of vanes 19 are light-weight carbon-seal blades 22 which are spring biased outwardly into light but continuous sealing contact with said face. Also mounted in radial slots formed to receive these in the periphery of the rotor 17 and equally spaced circumferentially from each other and from the vanes 19 are light-weight narrow vanes 23, two of which are located between each adjacent pair of vanes 19. The vanes 23 do not touch the surface of chamber 12 excepting in the areas thereof at the opposite ends of the shorter of the dimensional axes of said chamber at the top and bottom thereof where, for limited distances, chamber 12 is shaped to conform closely to the cylindrical surface of the rotor 17 and thus effectively form a seal dividing the empty space in chamber 12, disposed between the rotor 17 and said chamber, into a fuel induction and compression chamber 24 (on the left) and a compressed fuel charge combustion and expansion chamber 25 (on the right).

Formed integrally with the body 11 is a compressed vaporized fuel storage reservoir 26 into which compressed fuel is forced from chamber 24 through spring biased check valves 27 after this fuel has been sucked into said chamber through a vaporized fuel port 28 connected to a carburetor 29. At the lower end of expansion chamber 25, the body 11 is provided with an exhaust port 30 connecting said chamber with an exhaust pipe 31.

Provided transversely in the bodly 11 at the opposite end of the vaporized fuel storage tank 26 from the fuel intake valves 27 is a bore 32 having a keyway 33. A semi-cylindrical bearing sleeve sector 34 fits in said bore with a rib 35, provided on said sleeve sector, fitting in said keyway and preventing rotation of said sleeve sector in said bore. A sleeve sector 36 which matches the sleeve sector 34 as to inside and outside radius is united at one end with a head 37 having an axial control shaft 38. At its opposite end sleeve sector 36 has a ring 36a which fits into a recess 34a in that end of sleeve sector 34. The shaft 38 extends outwardly through end wall 14 and has mounted thereon a gear sector 39 for rocking the sleeve sector 36 in order to control the acceleration and de-acceleration of the engine.

The concave semi-cylindrical inner surfaces of the sleeve sectors 34 and 36 and the inner surface of ring 36a form a bore in which a cylindrical fuel valve 40 journals, this valve having a slot 41 formed diametricall y through a middle portion thereof and having a shaft 42 extending axially from one end thereof through left end wall 13 for rotation of this valve in timed relation with the rotation of the engine shaft 16.

This relative rotation is effected through a gear 43 mounted on shaft 42 by a set screw 44 so that said gear is rotationally adjustable on said shaft for timing purposes. A gear 45 with one and one-half times the number of teeth of gear 43 is mounted on the main shaft 16 and connected with gear 43 by a train of idler gears 46 and 46a. The drive ratio between the shaft 16 and valve 40 is thus 2 to 3. In other words, for each two revolutions of the shaft 16 the valve 40 rotates three revolutions.

Also mounted on shaft 42 is the internal cam 47a of a distributor 47 which distributes high tension current from a coil 48 through a wire 49 to a spark plug 50 mounted in a recess 51 formed in the chamber 12 in a position just in advance of the location of bore 32. Connecting the bore 32 respectively with the 'fuel reservoir 26 and with the chamber 12 are transversely aligned upper and lower ports 52 and 53.

Mounted on the distributor 47 and extending upwardly therefrom is a gear sector 54 which is equal in pitch diameter with the gear sector 39 mounted on the axial sleeve operating shaft 38. The reservoir 26 has a cap plate 55 on which are mounted two bearings 56 and 57 in which a control shaft 58 journals. Fixed on opposite ends of the shaft 58 are pinion gears 59 and 60 which mesh respectively with gear sectors 54 and 39. Also fixed on the shaft 58 is a throttle control worm gear sector 61.Journalled in bearings 62 and 63 provided on cap plate 55 and bearing 57 is 'a shaft 64 on I which is fixed a worm gear 65, which meshes in a driving relation with worm sector 61, and a rack gear 66 which rotatably meshes with a rack 67 slideably mounted on hearing 62.

It is also to be noted that when sleeve sector 36 is rotated in a clockwise direction by a rightward retraction of the rack 67 from the position in which it is shown in FIG. 1, the point of time, in that power cycle of the engine, at which the lower end of the valve slot 41 will be entirely closed by sleeve sector 36 will be advanced. Coordinately with this advancing of the point of time where the delivery of fuel to the combustion chamber will have been consummated, the time at which the spark plug 50 will be energized to ignite this charge of fuel will also be advanced a like amount. Thus, coordination is maintained between the timing of the consummation of the delivery of a fuel charge to the combustion chamber 75 and the igniting of this charge. As previously pointed out, the volume of the combustion chamber 75 is also caused to vary in size in proportion to the variation in the size of the fuel charge delivered to this chamber which brings the operation of the engine 10 into harmony at various speeds.

When the engine 10 is installed in an automobile, a conventional automobile foot pedal throttle would be used to actuate the rack 67 which would be spring biased toward its idling position and responsive to the pressure of the foot thereagainst for accelerating the engine.

In the engine 10, the carburetor 29 is provided with a butterfly valve 76 which is automatically controlled by a pressure responsive bellows 77 which is connected by linkage 78 to an arm 79 mounted on the shaft 80 of the valve 76. The bellows 77 is connected by a pressure tube 81 to the fuel reservoir 26 and functions in response to changes in pressure in said reservoir to open or close the butterfly valve 76 in the carburetor 29 so as to maintain, while the engine 10 is operating, a relatively uniform vaporized fuel pressure in the reservoir 26.

An optional extra fuel storage tank 82 (see FIG. 4) may be connected to storage reservoir 26 to store fuel under pressure to be drawn out and used for fast acceleration when needed for a short time, and for helping to start the engine if the fuel mixture has all leaked out of the reservoir 26. The larger tank 82 is well sealed by valves to hold the storage mixture. This tank is normally filled by the overflow from the reservoir 26. During the time that tank 82 is filling, the engine will perform with somewhat less than its maximum power, as fuel is drained off into tank 82 and the bellows 77 holds the carburetor 76 open during this time. The fuel mixture is free to flow from reservoir 26 into extra storage tank 82 through a check valve 82. Where the engine 10 is provided with a foot accelerator for controlling the throttle, this can be equipped with a manual selfclosing valve 84 which can be opened by stepping down hard on the accelerator pedal so as to supply added fuel from the tank 82 to the reservoir 26 as this is needed.

An optional compressor driven by the engine shaft 16 may also be used as shown in FIG. 5 for filling the extra storage tank 82. As shown in this view, the flow of fuel is from the auxilliary compressor 90 through pipe 91 and check valve 83; and from the tank 82 back into the reservoir 26 by way of self-closing valve 84 and check valve 92. An optional check valve 93 can be installed just outside the auxilliary compressor 90 for preventing a reverse flow of fuel to said compressor while the engine is temporarily throttled down or shut off. The auxilliary compressor 90 is provided with a carburetor 94, the intake valve of which is also operated by a pressure controlled bellows 77 so that the two carburetors in the system are coordinately actuated to maintain a cosntant pressure of fuel mixture in the reservoir 26 and the extra fuel storage tank 82.

Thus by pedal manipulation of the rack67 the sleeve sector 36 is adjustable to decrease or increase the space between the lower edges of the sleeve sector 34 and sleeve sector 36 and coordinately to advance or retard the timing of the spark plug 50 by the distributor 47. The throttle 67 functions thus as the narrower the space is between the lower edges of the sleeve sectors 34 and 36 the smaller is the amount of fuel vapor admitted into the combustion chamber 75, which is the space confined above and behind the vane 19 which has just swung past the spark plug recess 51. The coordinate advancing of the point in time at which the spark plug 50 fires causes the combustion chamber 75 to be substantially smaller at the moment the explosion takes place than when the throttle rack 67 is in an advanced throttle position. In the latter case, the opening between the lower edges of the sleeve sectors 34 and 36 is relatively wide so as to admit a correspondingly larger volume of compressed fuel into the combustion chamber 75 while the corresponding retarding of the point in time that the spark plug 50 is energized causes the delivery of the spark by the latter to be delayed until the combustion chamber 75 has a larger size due to the vane 19 involved in this cycle having travelled a substantially greater distance past the spark plug recess 51 before the larger charge of fuel just delivered to the combustion chamber 75 is tired.

it is to be noted that the lower end of the slot 41 in the fuel valve 40 always travels in an anti-clockwise direction as seen in FIG. 3 and the timing in the control of the engine by the rack 67 does not alter the timing with which the lower end of slot 41 is uncovered by the lower edge of sleeve sector 34 because the cylindrical valve 40 rotates in constantly uniform timed relation with the shaft 16.

I claim:

I. In a rotary internal combustion engine, the combinatio of:

a stator providing a closed chamber, a fuel valve bore being provided in said stator closely juxtaposed to and parallel with said chamber; rotary piston means;

means for rotatably mounting said piston means in cyclic sliding relation with said chamber to cyclically produce an expanding subchamber in said chamber adjacent said valve bore;

there being fuel port means in said stator connecting said bore with said subchamber;

a rotary sleeve valve means having a diametral slot therein for introducing a gaseous fuel charge under superatmospheric pressure into said subchamber while the latter is relatively small,;

a pair of opposed sleeve sectors fitting into said valve bore, one of said sectors being rockable in said bore relative to the other sector, said sleeve valve rotatably joumalling withinsaid sleeve sectors; means powered by rotation of said'piston means for timely rotation of said sleeve valve means to deliver said fuel charge to said sub-chamber and then shut off at a given point of time in the expansion of said subchamber, r

said last mentioned means also causing the firing of said charge after said valve means has shut following delivery of said charge; and

throttle means operating to rock the rockable sleeve sector relative to the other sleeve sector to increase or diminish the amount of the fuel charge delivered to said subchamber, and, simultaneously therewitn, advance or retard the timing of the firing of said charge.

2. A combination as recited in claim 1 wherein a groove is provided in said valve bore; and

a boss fonned on said other one of said sleeve sectors which fits into said groove to prevent rotation of said other sector in said bore.

3. A combination as recited in claim 2 wherein said rotary sleeve valve rotates in a counterclockwise direction to bring said diametral slot in to communication with said fuel port means, and wherein said rockable sleeve sector rocks in a clockwise direction in moving towards said fixed sleeve sector adjacent said fuel port means to decrease the opening formed by juxtaposed edges of said sleeve sectors and forming a passage between said rotary sleeve valve means and said fuel port means, and to advance, timewise, the closing of said diametral valve slot by the latter passing behind thelower edge of said rockable sleeve sector.

4. A combination as recited in claim 1 wherein the rocking of said sleeve sector to diminish the amount of fuel in a given fuel charge advances the consummation of the delivery of said charge and the rocking of said sleeve sector to increase the amount of fuel in a given fuel charge retards the consummation of the delivery of said charge.

5. A combination as recited in claim 1 wherein a fuel reservoir is provided which connects with said fuel valve bore to supply fuel to said rotary sleeve valve means;

a carburetor;

fuel compression pump means power driven by said engine, said pump means receiving vaporized fuel from said carburetor and delivering the same to said reservoir, said carburetor having an air intake valve; and

pressure responsive means connected to said reservoir and controlling said carburetor valve for main taining the pressure of fuel in said reservoir at a predetermined value.

6. A combination as recited in claim 5 wherein an extra fuel storage tank is provided and is connected with said reservoir to accumulate an adequate reserve supply of vaporized fuel under pressure from the normal operation of the engine, for use in starting the engine and in operation thereof for a short burst of speed; i

an auxiliary fuel compression pump power driven by said engine to increase the power potential of the engine; and

a separate carburetor supplying vaporized fuel to said means connected to said reservoir.

# 1C I! I I 

1. In a rotary internal combustion engine, the combinatio of: a stator providing a closed chamber, a fuel valve bore being provided in said stator closely juxtaposed to and parallel with said chamber; rotary piston means; means for rotatably mounting said piston means in cyclic sliding relation with said chamber to cyclically produce an expanding subchamber in said chamber adjacent said valve bore; there being fuel port means in said stator connecting said bore with said subchamber; a rotary sleeve valve means having a diametral slot therein for introducing a gaseous fuel charge under superatmospheric pressure into said subchamber while the latter is relatively small,; a pair of opposed sleeve sectors fitting into said valve bore, one of said sectors being rockable in said bore relative to the other sector, said sleeve valve rotatably journalling within said sleeve sectors; means powered by rotation of said piston means for timely rotation of said sleeve valve means to deliver said fuel charge to said sub-chamber and then shut off at a given point of time in the expansion of said subchamber, said last mentioned means also causing the firing of said charge after said valve means has shut following delivery of said charge; and throttle means operating to rock the rockable sleeve sector relative to the other sleeve sector to increase or diminish the amount of the fuel charge delivered to said subchamber, and, simultaneously therewitn, advance or retard the timing of the firing of said charge.
 2. A combination as recited in claim 1 wherein a groove is provided in said valve bore; and a boss formed on said other one of said sleeve sectors which fits into said groove to prevent rotation of said other sector in said bore.
 3. A combination as recited in claim 2 wherein said rotary sleeve valve rotates in a counterclockwise direction to bring said diametral slot in to communication with said fuel port means, and wherein said rockable sleeve sector rocks in a clockwise direction in moving towards said fixed sleeve sector adjacent said fuel port means to decrease the opening formed by juxtaposed edges of said sleeve sectors and forming a passage between said rotary sleeve valve means and said fuel port means, and to advance, timewise, the closing of said diametral valve slot by the latter passing behind the lower edge of said rockable sleeve sector.
 4. A combination as recited in claim 1 wherein the rocking of said sleeve sector to diminish the amount of fuel in a given fuel charge advances the consummation of the delivery of said charge and the rocking of said sleeve sector to increase the amount of fuel in a given fuel charge retards the consummation of the delivery of said charge.
 5. A combination as recited in claim 1 wherein a fuel reservoir is provided which connects with said fuel valve bore to supply fuel to said rotary sleeve valve means; a Carburetor; fuel compression pump means power driven by said engine, said pump means receiving vaporized fuel from said carburetor and delivering the same to said reservoir, said carburetor having an air intake valve; and pressure responsive means connected to said reservoir and controlling said carburetor valve for maintaining the pressure of fuel in said reservoir at a predetermined value.
 6. A combination as recited in claim 5 wherein an extra fuel storage tank is provided and is connected with said reservoir to accumulate an adequate reserve supply of vaporized fuel under pressure from the normal operation of the engine, for use in starting the engine and in operation thereof for a short burst of speed; an auxiliary fuel compression pump power driven by said engine to increase the power potential of the engine; and a separate carburetor supplying vaporized fuel to said auxiliary pump, the valve of said separate carburetor being also controlled by a pressure responsive means connected to said reservoir. 